Ricardo Dos Santos spent the winter dripping wet in sea foam. Now, that has all paid off.

In late March, the Brazilian surfer was awarded Surfline‘s ”Wave of the Winter,” a prize given to the rider of the best wave found crashing at Hawaii’s famous North Shore during the 2012-2013 winter season.

“That was the best day I ever had at Pipe,” Dos Santos tells Surfline in the video below of the wave he picked up on December 30th. “Everyone knows how hard it is to get waves, but that day was different and easy to be in position.”

North Shore legend and ”Wave of the Winter” judge, Gerry Lopez, agreed with Dos Santos on the ideal conditions. ”Some waves are different than others. This was one of those different waves,” Lopez said.

Ricardo Dos Santos, from southern Brazil, faced some tough competition for the Wave of the Winter 2013 prize, which came along with a fat check for $25,000. Also making the top ten were Makua Rothman, Jason Frederico, Michael Ho and other surfers bred closer to Oahu’s famous crushing waves. “Pipe chooses you. If you deserve it, Pipe is going to choose you,” Dos Santos says in the video above. On December 30th Dos Santos deserved it.

Looking for more surfing action? Check out the best GoPro surfing videos.